ACUTE TOXICITY STUDY OF KARISALAI KARPAM IN ANIMAL MODEL

Dr. G. Bharathkumar* and Dr. M. Pitchiah Kumar

ABSTRACT

Karisalai Karpam (KK) is considered as a valuable herbal medicine of Siddha system of medicine. A Karpam medicine is believed to protect all organs against diseases. The composition of Karisali Karpam as per the Siddha traditional preparation are Eclipta alba (Vellai Karisalai Samoolam), Wedelia chinensis (Manjal Karisalai samoolam), Indigofera tinctoria (Neeli Samoolam), Sphaeranthus indicus (Kottaikarandhai Samoolam), Centella asiatica (Vallarai Samoolam), Acalypha indica (Kuppeimeni) and Coldenia procumbens (Siruserupadai). KK has various medicinal properties. The toxicity profile of Karisalai Karpam has not been addressed, hence it was taken for acute toxicity study. It was carried out as per OECD guidelines. Animals were divided into two groups of 6 animals each. The dose utilized for evaluation of acute toxicity study is about 2000 mg/kg higher than that of the therapeutic dose. Occurrence of toxicity in animals were observed continuously for the first 4 h and observed periodically for the next 14 days. Results obtained from this study concluded that the oral dose up to 2000mg/kg of Karisalai Karpam did not cause any mortality.

Keywords: Karisalai Karpam, Siddha, Herbal medicine, Toxicity study, Animal study.